MANCHESTER menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... manchester

MANCHESTER menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... manchester

If it was moved to the heartlands, there would be little to no point in having it at all.

Had a great weekend wherever it's been so why not Manchester too.

Who cares!! - maybe the same people who are obsessed with ticket sales for internationals.

I prefer Manchester. The crowds will be bigger. I like to sit in a full or near full stadium when watching a match and I'm sure the players will respond to the atmosphere.

We would sell more tickets in Manchester but I'm not convinced it would do us any good in the long run. Possibly Salford and Wigan being Greater Manchester based teams might pick up a few fans.

Maybe it's the scarcity principle in marketing, sell it out regulary and build up the interest in the event to the point where tickets are extrememly hard to come by, fans will make more impulse buying for something they might not be able to get, then move to Wales.

Maybe the Midlands, such as Birmingham would be just as easy.Not too far and lets spread the game gradually.

There is no way City or United would allow their pitches to be used for 8 RL matches in 2 days on any wet or otherwise weekend.
I repeat 'no way'.

All we need now is large venue which the two principle operators would be happy to let out for seven games of back-to-back RL in February.

Ah.......

In June it's the end of the football season and City are replacing the pitch.

I think it really does have the possibility of been a big success. I haven't been to a Magic weekend yet but I think this will be my first

I think it's a great idea to play it at hopefully a packed stadium up here. It was mentioned during the Magic weekend last time around that the novelty was wearing off, so I think a year or two without being a weekend away for most will re invigorate the idea once it does return to Cardiff/Edinburgh.

Quote ="RED FLAG RISING"MANCHESTER menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... manchester'" Do these people not understand that the event is in Cardiff because Cardiff and the Welsh tourist board pay the RFL to host it there? If a venue in Manchester was willing to put in a bid that matched or exceeded the Cardiff bid, then I'm sure that the RFL would consider holding it there. But getting a bunch of dinosaurs to talk about 'looking after real fans' isn't doing any favours to anyone.

Quote ="RED FLAG RISING"MANCHESTER menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... manchester'" Do these people not understand that the event is in Cardiff because Cardiff and the Welsh tourist board pay the RFL to host it there? If a venue in Manchester was willing to put in a bid that matched or exceeded the Cardiff bid, then I'm sure that the RFL would consider holding it there. But getting a bunch of dinosaurs to talk about 'looking after real fans' isn't doing any favours to anyone.

This.

Not all of us can afford the weekend, or get time away, or even want to travel so far every year. I've wanted it at City Stadium for a long time, a big crowd, handy for all heartlands supporters, plus it's dead easy for me.



Much better to have 40,000+ each day in a 47,000 capacity stadium, than 20-30,000 each day in an 75,000 capacity stadium.

I realise Tourist Boards pay a certain amount for the privilege of allowing hotels and pubs to inflate their prices as RL fans flock to town, but we have to ask what the purpose of the Magic Weekend is? Limited numbers of locals attending the games? Profit for the local area? Or a showcase event?

The 'purpose' is that it makes a profit for the RFL and more importantly is a great event to attend. In any other sport, this would sell out every year. In RL, we get people say at home moaning that empty seats look bad on TV.

Hold it wherever Headhunter tells us to and make sure it is to his exact specifications because he is an uppity soul.

Brilliant news! packed stadium instead of half empty one, and only over the pennines

As long as there isn't a clash with a Leigh game then I'm planning on being there and I'm sure it will be attractive to neutrals and potential fans alike, particularly given the time of year and Bank Holiday weekend aspect.

Guaranteed lower crowds than any other year as people will watch their team and then leave. Utterly stupid.

removes a quite a lot of the point of having it to be honest. Cant see why 80k people with discounted tickets watching at the Ethiad is better than 80k people paying full price for tickets in the clubs own stadiums.

Most RL fans live within about 60miles of Manchester, who will be tempted to travel their for the weekend when they can go, watch their team, then go home again?

We arent going to get the games played in a packed stadium because people will simply leave after their game has been played, at least Cardiff and Edinburgh being so far away caused the audience to be a little bit 'captive'.

nah... ive been to edinburgh, cardiff (twice) and only stayed the one day...didnt leave after my game finished and cant see me leaving just because its closer too home, if anything you would stay because you dont have the 4 hours journey to get home!

Worth considering that, presumably with a bigger crowd, the best seats will go much more quickly so people might arrive much earlier for the games prior to their own team to secure a better spot etc? I think the lack of travelling will also mean people will be less inclined to try and get early dart as the day goes on.

having it in manchester will be a good thing as its not far to travel and still have all the super league teams having more supporters there and i reckon lower league teams will come as well like swinton leigh halifax all local fans will be there

Its not up to City, the council own the ground. City wouldn't be happy if the matches were held during their season, but Feb is too cold to hold that sort of event in a stadium with no roof. May, after the soccer season, is a better time.

Plus, why wouldn't the council be up for it? They could potentially make more out of this then United do out of the Grand Final. There could be in excess of 40k fans on both days and the stadium would be open all day, both days, meaning an awful lot of beer and burgers can be sold. It also means the council have a good photo opp for New Islington, the regenerated area of Ancoats on the way to the stadium.